RSSSandra Bloom is in a frustrating position, and she feels stuck.
She put faith in people to do some work for her - and they've failed.
Not only did they fail to fulfill promises, they've created a bigger mess than the one they were supposed to fix.
Like many Americans, Bloom hoped the U.S. Congress would improve the country's struggling economy this year. Instead, she watched elected leaders squabble and finger-point while the U.S. credit rating was downgraded and federal debt climbed past $14 trillion.
"I am so angry at Congress for the way it is not doing its job," Bloom wrote in an e-mail to Money Morning. "There is no longer any attempt to do what is best for the country, no attempt to compromise."
Bloom shared her thoughts on what's wrong with Congress in response to a dismal CBS News/New York Times poll in early August that revealed 82% of Americans disapprove of the way Congress is doing its job - the highest disapproval rating since polling began in 1977.
This was on the heels of a USA Today/Gallup Poll in Julythat showed just 7% of Americans believed their representatives in Washington were negotiating in good faith when it came to the debt-ceiling debate.
We asked you, our readers, just what's wrong with Congress - and the overwhelming majority emphatically agreed: Elected representatives are only out for their own interests, not those of the people.
"All they have been doing is playing chicken to see who blinks first, and the American public is the loser," said Bloom. "They would rather one side's ideas be defeated than accomplish any meaningful legislation."
That could mean it's time for a change.
She put faith in people to do some work for her - and they've failed.
Not only did they fail to fulfill promises, they've created a bigger mess than the one they were supposed to fix.
Like many Americans, Bloom hoped the U.S. Congress would improve the country's struggling economy this year. Instead, she watched elected leaders squabble and finger-point while the U.S. credit rating was downgraded and federal debt climbed past $14 trillion.
"I am so angry at Congress for the way it is not doing its job," Bloom wrote in an e-mail to Money Morning. "There is no longer any attempt to do what is best for the country, no attempt to compromise."
Bloom shared her thoughts on what's wrong with Congress in response to a dismal CBS News/New York Times poll in early August that revealed 82% of Americans disapprove of the way Congress is doing its job - the highest disapproval rating since polling began in 1977.
This was on the heels of a USA Today/Gallup Poll in Julythat showed just 7% of Americans believed their representatives in Washington were negotiating in good faith when it came to the debt-ceiling debate.
We asked you, our readers, just what's wrong with Congress - and the overwhelming majority emphatically agreed: Elected representatives are only out for their own interests, not those of the people.
"All they have been doing is playing chicken to see who blinks first, and the American public is the loser," said Bloom. "They would rather one side's ideas be defeated than accomplish any meaningful legislation."
That could mean it's time for a change.
"My country is falling apart!" wrote reader Keith W. "We the people of this great nation need to come together as one and tell Congress enough is enough!"
The e-mails poured in with many readers sharing the exact same thoughts. If nothing is done, political parties' bickering will continue to stall progress in Washington and result in worse consequences than the recent credit rating downgrade.
"While I don't agree with everything President Obama has done, the Republicans only show me gridlock and their inability to compromise, rather than accomplish something," wrote Ruth M. "They want it all and my guess is, they aren't going to get it without a long fight. In other words, there will be a second "downgrade" for our country because of their inability to give-and-take."
Besides Congress' inability to reach agreements, many readers fault leaders' logic - or lack thereof - when proposing how to fix the economy, especially when it comes to job creation.
"If I hear one more person classify the extremely wealthy class as the job creators, I'm going to scream," said Mike L. "Don't you have to create jobs to be classified as a job creator?"
Another major complaint is that the U.S. Congress seems to favor the rich, while continuously finding ways to get money from everyone else.
"If you follow closely the markets and politics, like I do, you can see that everything is stacked against the middle class and poor," said reader Allen N. "Who will pay the taxes when the rich won't, and the middle class is strapped and disappearing, and the poor can't? It should be obvious to everyone that the "trickle down" theory doesn't work - due to greed."
While the majority of blame goes to the elected - or hope-to-be-elected - representatives, Americans also blame the media for failing to focus on candidates who support the "real" issues for the country.
"It is not very reassuring to see the televised Republican Party leadership debates with the main focus on those who do not represent the views and wishes of the American people, but rather the aspirations of themselves," wrote reader Gary C. "The focus is always on something else; i.e., the mouthy female with the big hair or the guy with the impeccable tan."
So now that we have an idea of what's wrong with Congress, how do we get a better one?
Some of you suggested pay limits.
"Take away their benefits and make them live like the majority does and pay them only when they are in D.C. working," said Bill K.
Others pointed toward another money issue - the controversial topic of campaign contributions.
"The root of all this evil is the rules for campaign financing," wrote reader DD. "Our Congress and the administration is controlled by special interest groups, union influence, and high rollers. Campaign financing should be made very simple to prevent these groups from being able to influence government officials and elected officials for a pay back for their support."
Or, maybe it's time we turn to others for guidance, and adopt a new system of government.
"It may be time to look at the political setup the Canadians use; when there is a lack of confidence in the majority they are removed and new elections are scheduled," said reader Michael S. "Canada did not fall into the financial mess with their homes or banks, and lobbyists do not control the politicians to the extent they do in the U.S."
There were a few readers who said American voters aren't innocent, either, and need to choose their representatives better instead of falling for empty promises from "salespeople."
"The reason for the low ratings by the people is that they want to blame someone else for their problems," said reader JJ. "Personal responsibility is almost non-existent in this country. Until Americans grow up and start taking responsibility for their own lives, it's likely they will just keep on demanding something for nothing and we will continue electing the best salespeople."
Regardless of how we got here, everyone agreed it's time for a new approach to managing this country - but it won't be easy.
Reader David G. said that while it's definitely time for change, he hoped Americans could handle a potentially huge government overhaul.
"Is it time to amend the Constitution to force Congress to live under the same laws they pass for the people?" he asked. "Face it: the system doesn't work. Whether we're ready for changes of this magnitude is the real question for many."
But among the dismal outlooks was at least one hopeful sentiment that Americans can successfully resolve the country's economic woes.
"One of the major quality traits of the American people is versatility," wrote Glenn R. "If you try something and it doesn't work, try something else; "necessity through invention.' Government tries the same old things year after year. Government needs to change its laws to arrest this continuing mishandling of finances, purchases and budgets. Enough mishandling of the country - employ the talented money-makers, America!"
News and Related Story Links:
The e-mails poured in with many readers sharing the exact same thoughts. If nothing is done, political parties' bickering will continue to stall progress in Washington and result in worse consequences than the recent credit rating downgrade.
"While I don't agree with everything President Obama has done, the Republicans only show me gridlock and their inability to compromise, rather than accomplish something," wrote Ruth M. "They want it all and my guess is, they aren't going to get it without a long fight. In other words, there will be a second "downgrade" for our country because of their inability to give-and-take."
Besides Congress' inability to reach agreements, many readers fault leaders' logic - or lack thereof - when proposing how to fix the economy, especially when it comes to job creation.
"If I hear one more person classify the extremely wealthy class as the job creators, I'm going to scream," said Mike L. "Don't you have to create jobs to be classified as a job creator?"
Another major complaint is that the U.S. Congress seems to favor the rich, while continuously finding ways to get money from everyone else.
"If you follow closely the markets and politics, like I do, you can see that everything is stacked against the middle class and poor," said reader Allen N. "Who will pay the taxes when the rich won't, and the middle class is strapped and disappearing, and the poor can't? It should be obvious to everyone that the "trickle down" theory doesn't work - due to greed."
While the majority of blame goes to the elected - or hope-to-be-elected - representatives, Americans also blame the media for failing to focus on candidates who support the "real" issues for the country.
"It is not very reassuring to see the televised Republican Party leadership debates with the main focus on those who do not represent the views and wishes of the American people, but rather the aspirations of themselves," wrote reader Gary C. "The focus is always on something else; i.e., the mouthy female with the big hair or the guy with the impeccable tan."
So now that we have an idea of what's wrong with Congress, how do we get a better one?
Some of you suggested pay limits.
"Take away their benefits and make them live like the majority does and pay them only when they are in D.C. working," said Bill K.
Others pointed toward another money issue - the controversial topic of campaign contributions.
"The root of all this evil is the rules for campaign financing," wrote reader DD. "Our Congress and the administration is controlled by special interest groups, union influence, and high rollers. Campaign financing should be made very simple to prevent these groups from being able to influence government officials and elected officials for a pay back for their support."
Or, maybe it's time we turn to others for guidance, and adopt a new system of government.
"It may be time to look at the political setup the Canadians use; when there is a lack of confidence in the majority they are removed and new elections are scheduled," said reader Michael S. "Canada did not fall into the financial mess with their homes or banks, and lobbyists do not control the politicians to the extent they do in the U.S."
There were a few readers who said American voters aren't innocent, either, and need to choose their representatives better instead of falling for empty promises from "salespeople."
"The reason for the low ratings by the people is that they want to blame someone else for their problems," said reader JJ. "Personal responsibility is almost non-existent in this country. Until Americans grow up and start taking responsibility for their own lives, it's likely they will just keep on demanding something for nothing and we will continue electing the best salespeople."
Regardless of how we got here, everyone agreed it's time for a new approach to managing this country - but it won't be easy.
Reader David G. said that while it's definitely time for change, he hoped Americans could handle a potentially huge government overhaul.
"Is it time to amend the Constitution to force Congress to live under the same laws they pass for the people?" he asked. "Face it: the system doesn't work. Whether we're ready for changes of this magnitude is the real question for many."
But among the dismal outlooks was at least one hopeful sentiment that Americans can successfully resolve the country's economic woes.
"One of the major quality traits of the American people is versatility," wrote Glenn R. "If you try something and it doesn't work, try something else; "necessity through invention.' Government tries the same old things year after year. Government needs to change its laws to arrest this continuing mishandling of finances, purchases and budgets. Enough mishandling of the country - employ the talented money-makers, America!"
News and Related Story Links:
- Money Morning:
How You Can Get a Private Briefing From Our Global-Investing Gurus - Money Morning:
Why a U.S. Default Will Be a Good Thing - Money Morning:
Why the U.S. Credit Rating Downgrade Could Cause a Full-Fledged Market Crash - Money Morning:
Don't Look Now but the National Debt Could be $23 Trillion by 2021
More on this topic
(What's this?)
US Debt Downgraded Again
(Learn Mining News, 8/17/11)
Happy Easter and Sunday’s Best
(Canadian Personal Finance Blog, 4/8/12)
The US is on the Verge of Losing AAA Status
(Learn Mining News, 6/7/11)
The United States is Bankrupt
(Wealth Daily, 7/25/11)
Tags: 2011 us congress, congress, congressional reps, elected reps in congress, election time, fix congress, fix us congress, how many new members of congress, new congress, new congress 2011, new congress members, new congress members 2011, new immigration bill in congress, new members of congress 2011, new senators 112th congress, new us congress, us congress, us congress election results, us congress house of representatives, us congress members by state, us congress news, us congress salary, us congress terms, us congress unemployment, us congress unemployment benefit extension, us congress website, us gov congress, washington leaders, what's wrong with congress?, who is my us congress representative, worst us congress
When we were a free country economic growth was the greatest the world has ever seen. Now that we've become a socialist democracy we are stagnant and corrupt just like all the others. If we just insist the government follow the constitution (and it means exactly what the people who wrote it meant) then we can get back to prosperity and the sociopaths will have to confine themselves to petty crime instead of running for Congress.
I am upset, but not surprised at the ignorance portrayed in many of the comments. How can Congress compromise on a solution when each side has conflicting solutions to the problem? A compromise would result in an impotent “solution”. The choices, as I see it, are: 1) do nothing and fall off the cliff, 2) compromise and fall off the cliff, 3) one side’s solution and fall off the cliff faster, or 4) the other side’s solution and cling to the edge of the cliff until we can climb back up. Which side is 3) and which is 4)? You have to read each proposal, not listen to the press and the pundits.
I am disgusted with almost every person in our federal House & Senate.
We must demand an entire group of changes, including the following few:
1. Absolute adherance to the U.S. Constitution.
2. Requiring house members & senators to vote based on their constituant voters' wishes, and not on lobbyists, unions, or any other special interests.
3. Requiring all members to have the same health insurance, and the same other benefits or lack thereof that non-members have.
4. Members must have very limited terms of service, and no benefits after their limited terms of service.
5. Requiring that the size of government is made far smaller than it is now, and that the national debt be regularly reduced by at least 1% every single month. until it reaches zero debt.
6. Totally removing the Executive Order type of action the President now has.
7. Requiring that Congress not create any rule or law whose cost could or would result in any increase in the national debt to any extent at all.
8. Require that the House and Senate limit the time that they meet to the same limitation that Texas imposes on its lawmakers.
9. Reduce the size of government in every way possible — one small change I can think of at the moment should absolutely prevent hiring anyone to fill the positions of any government employees who quit their jobs, who retire, and who leave their job for any and all reasons.
10. Turn over almost every rule and/or law to the states, including most of those that now are created or governed by the federal government.
11. Impeach the president or any member of congress who does anything of any kind or nature whatsoever that is not permitted by the U.S.Constitution.
12. Eliminate any and all retirement benefits that are now or would be in the future paid to the members of the house or senate.
13. Cut each and every person or other entity from being able to contribute more than $100.00 to any person who runs for any government post.
14. Eliminate the Senate as it is now run or acts — replace the Senate by one person and one back-up person selected by each state, and hired by and paid by such state. If such person does not do what the state and the state's population wants them to do, the state will be able to fire that person and hire a replacement.
There are many additional steps that must be added – I will cover them in future issues of one or more of my editorial venues.
Although this article decries "finger-pointing" most of the quotes within it are exactly that. How about some new ideas, folks?
Congress in 1913 created a Federal Reserve Board, a federally chartered, but private central bank and delegated to it the Congress' Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency. Has the Federal Reserve Board done this? Well no, in fact the Nation's credit has recently been downgraded to the shame of all those whom we can call true Americans. And why hasn't the FRB done this? Well, they've been busy. They have their personal interests to take care of, like all bureaucrats. Also, they have been very very busy, doing whatever, in the process where a small number of Americans have personally acquired billions of dollars to put into their own pockets at the expense of all the rest of the true Americans. It's been hard to find time for the small problems of the rest of the American people. That's not to say that this group of new billionaires may not feel a little shame at the economic mess we are now in, but one can't dismiss what a few billions of dollars in one's pockets will do to take the edge off shame.
And what is Washington's part as this small group makes billions at the expense of the majority of Americans? Well first, they work very closely with the small group. And many of the Washington players greatly apprciate the wonderful work on bubble building that FRB does. They have no objection if large amounts of Treasury money is put into the economy when a bubble is starting to build so as to make the bubble a real big one at burst time. Washington is apparently not concerned when the small group explodes the bubble through short selling by domestic and foreign shorters, and takes ten to twenty trillion dollars out of the US economy. This is obvious because there is no control coming out of Washington which will prevent this and protect the livelihood of the majority.
When this is all over and the Country is in a horrible mess, then the Washington individuals break up into groups and fight with each other like you can't believe, taking care, of course, that neither side inconveniences or offends the small group of new billionaires that has just been created, as these people make campaign contributions.
We could work out of this mess as we are a rugged people. But it won't happen; it can go on for twenty years. Every time there is a gain of any appreciable amount Washington will permit short selling of financial securities by domestic and foreign shorters. A trillion will be taken out of the economy and the Country will be right back in the sewer again.
It looks to me like the system is working just as it was designed to work. The job of each congressman and senator is to represent the people who elected them. They also "represent" people in their district or state who did not vote for them, but priority must be given to that majority who elected them. And in case you haven't noticed, the divisions that we see in Congress over the budget, debt, spending priorities, etc., are just as extreme among the American populace as they are in the halls of Congress.
If someone runs on a platform of not raising the debt ceiling, cutting Federal spending, etc., and then votes for a compromise that raises the debt ceiling, only cuts the rate of increase of spending, etc., then the voters SHOULD throw them out next year and elect someone else. Likewise, if someone is elected on a platform of higher borrowing, spending, etc., then they need to vote that way.
What I see as really lacking in all this are some politicians who will stand before the American people and plainly lay out the choices we face and the consequences that have to follow from those choices. But even that will not resolve the fundamental debate. There are a lot of Americans who are fed up with paying taxes to support everyone from food stamp recipients to Wall Street looters, while there are a lot of others who see the government as their only refuge, and expect ever more help. From the way I wrote that, I think it is clear which side I am on, but I am aware that there are many on the other side as well.
In the process of resolving this debate, some promises are going to get broken – we have made more than we can keep, and deciding which promises to break is not going to be easy. However, if we are lucky, these decisions will ultimately be made by Congress and the President. If we are unlucky, the whole system collapses, and ALL the promises will be broken, and probably millions of people will die.
Larry Oakley HAS IT RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think the system's failure is due in part to an overwhelming amount of greed and hatred in America. There's a constant veil of morality, but the greed is always present. I'm borrowing this metaphor from Kay Plumb's book "Shadow in the USA" – great read. http://shadowintheusa.com/
What is there to fear but FEAR. The squabbling between Republicans and Democrats is a NATURAL pattern of POLITICS. Economics is different, it is a reaction to HUMAN BEHAVIOUR, that is, production follows demand, demand leads to invention or innovation and resource access. GREED leads to CHANGE viz Arab Spring, Iran Revolution, Magna Carta, Wall Street Challenge.
The SOLUTION could be RETURN TO THE GOLD STANDARD. What does it matter if Gold rises to $5000/oz it is only a commodity. What is more important is the EXCHANGE rate between the USD and other currencies and between currencies themselves which is translated into TRADE which in turn is translated into JOBS, Exploration, Inventions, Innovations, OUTPUT.
I agree with Tyler — I think that greed is one of the main reasons that the system has failed. I just read a book that made me think about our system rather critically called 'Operation Downfall' by Daniel McNeet (http://www.danielmcneet.com). Of course, I've been critical of the system for a while, but 'Operation Downfall' made me think about the role of greed and corruption in our government. It's really interesting to think about, if not a bit concerning!